Golf: Sergio's tongue good for golf, but not his own game

PETE DOUGHERTY

Updated 10:14 am, Wednesday, May 15, 2013

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Tiger Woods of the USA and Sergio Garcia of Spain stand on the 11th tee during round three of THE PLAYERS Championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 11, 2013 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Tiger Woods of the USA and Sergio...

Sergio Garcia, of Spain, left, shakes hands with Tiger Woods at the conclusion of the third round of The Players championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass, Sunday, May 12, 2013, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Play was suspended Saturday due to darkness. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays a shot on the second hole during round three of THE PLAYERS Championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 11, 2013 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays a...

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays a shot on the second hole during round three of THE PLAYERS Championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 11, 2013 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays a...

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays his third shot on the second hole during round three of THE PLAYERS Championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 11, 2013 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Sergio Garcia of Spain plays his...

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Tiger Woods of the USA plays a shot on the second hole during round three of THE PLAYERS Championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 11, 2013 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Tiger Woods of the USA plays a...

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 11: Tiger Woods of the USA plays a shot on the second hole during round three of THE PLAYERS Championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 11, 2013 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

After answering the question, telling her that both players usually take a couple weeks off after a major, I wondered about that combination of favorite golfers. Tiger and Phil? Maybe, but Tiger and Sergio?

Their distaste for each other resurfaced Saturday at The Players Championship, where Woods and Garcia were paired for the third round.

Garcia was in the fairway on the second hole at TPC Sawgrass when he heard a gallery commotion during his swing. Woods was over to the left, among the trees — and, of course, the Tiger trailers, the folks who try to watch his every step.

As Garcia tells it, Woods "must have pulled a 5-wood or a 3-wood, and the crowd started screaming." Garcia pushed his ball to the right of the green and eventually made bogey.

Woods said a tournament marshal told him that Garcia already had hit, although the marshals denied it.

"We don't enjoy each other's company," Garcia told the Golf Channel after the round. "You don't need to be a rocket engineer to figure that out."

Here is what you have to love about this incident: Garcia is willing to speak his mind, no matter the situation. As a journalist who savors a good story, I applaud that.

For a player who never has won a major, Garcia is a polarizing figure. He has been befallen by great expectations since he went out on tour as a Spanish teenager. He is blitzed in the media for on- and off-course antics.

Yet he continues to talk.

As someone who struggled to get through three years of high school Spanish, I admire athletes who are bilingual. Garcia is as good an interview as most players for whom English is a first language.

Because of the way he gets treated by a lot of media, especially those in Europe, he easily could become uncooperative and not deal with his critics. But he does.

He even got the usually stoic Woods to say that it's "not real surprising that he's complaining about something."

Garcia may not always say the politically correct things — at last year's Masters, he said, "I'm not good enough" to win a major — but he is rarely dull. That's good for golf.

From his perspective, Garcia probably should tone it down a little. It is telling that Garcia and Woods have been paired in the final group on a weekend six times, including Saturday. Woods has gone on to win every time.

From a golf writer's perspective, Sergio, keep on talking.

Area roundup

Brian Bigley, the Schenectady native who was one of four players to advance in last week's U.S. Open local qualifier, had numerous text messages before he arrived, congratulating him on making the field for the PGA Tour's Wells Fargo Championship for a second straight year. He appreciated the well-wishers, except that he didn't make it. The Charlotte Observer inadvertently ran last year's scores. "I had to disappoint everybody with my 71," he said. ... Corey Purcell of Catholic Central has signed a letter of intent to play at the College of Saint Rose.

Club roundup

Colonial Acres: The course's new management, in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region, is offering a mentoring program. Free golf will be provided to "littles" when visiting the course with their "bigs." The event features a ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m. Friday and open house all day Saturday and Sunday. For information, call (518) 439-2089 or visit http://golfcolonialacres.com

Elsewhere

The USGA received 1,420 entries, breaking last year's record of 1,360, for the U.S. Women's Open, which will be played June 27-30 at Sebonack in Southampton.